The Drought That's Ravaging Texas Has Produced Some Incredible Photos

It was an unusually wet July this year, or so it seemed to North Texans accustomed to summers of monotonous, unbroken heat. In reality, the 2.05 inches of precipitation was right around the historical average, and it came in drizzles that evaporated almost as soon as the sun re-emerged. It was far from enough to pull the region from the drought it's been suffering through for years, which remains severe.

U.S. Drought Monitor

The situation is better here here than in other parts of the state, where reservoirs are drying up and residents are turning to recycled waste water. All told, 95 percent of Texas is in drought, as you can see in the July 30 snapshot from the U.S. Drought Monitor. It shows no sign of abating anytime soon.

With that in mind, the Texas Water Development Board is issuing an open call for Texans to take pictures of the drought as they experience it. "It could be a dry creek bed, withered crops, wildfires and burn bans," the agency says in a press release. "But it could also be native plants that are flourishing despite the drought, creative water conservation measures or other innovative water solutions to our drought-prone climate."

TWDB kicks things off with some photos of its own, mostly of the haunting dry-creek-bed variety. Find them below. They were taken from the Texas drought Flickr page.